Mute holder



A. CHERNIAVSKY v MUTE'HOLDER- Filed Aug. 24, 1922 //7Ve/7f0/ Abraham (/rerm'awk] WWW Patented Feb. 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES ABRAHAM CHERNIAVSKY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

MUTE HOLDER.

Application filed August 24, 1922. Serial 1T0. 584,045.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM CHERNIAV- SKY, a citizen of Russia, residing at Los Angeles, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mute Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to anattachment for a stringed musical instrument, having particular reference to violins and other stringed instruments of that general type, and it is an object of this invention to provide an attachment for a stringed instrument which will serve to hold a mute in a convenient position when it is not in use.

A mute, as is well known, is a device adapted to be applied to the bridge of a stringed instrument'to soften or mufile the tone of the instrument. The mute is detachable from the bridge of the instrument and ordinarily is carried by the player in his ocket or is carried in the instrument case. his 'ractice is rather undesirable as it frequent y leads to the loss of the mute and" frequently leads to misplacement of the mute so that it is not at hand when desired for use.

It is an object of this invention to provide an attachment for a stringed instrument which will serve to hold a mute on the instrument in a manner so that it is convenient and can be applied to the bridge of the instrument easily and quickly.

It is another object of this invention to provide a device for holding a mute which is extremely simple and may be attached to the instrument so that it is not conspicuous and is not in the way.

The objects and features of the presentinvention will be best and more fully understood from the following detailed description of a typical preferred embodiment of the invention, throughout which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a typical stringed musical instrument equipped with the attachment provlded by the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of that portion of the instrument which carries the attachment provided by the present invention; Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken as indicated by line 3-3 on Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a face view of a typical mute such as may be carried by the attachment provided by the present invention. I

In the drawings numeral 10 designates the body of a typical stringed musical instrument of the general type to which the attachment provided by the present invention is adapted to be applied. Numeral 11 designates the bridge of the instrument which is mounted on the face 12 of the body 10. A tail-piece 13 is arranged at the inner end of the body 10, at the face side of the body, being connected with a suitable knob 14 at the inner end of the body 10 by means of a cord 15. The strings 16 are attached to the forward end of the tail-piece 13, extended over the bridge 11, and then to the neck of the instrument, not shown. The particular tail piece illustrated in the drawings is intended only to typify a tail-piece such as is usually employed in a stringed musical instrument of the present character. The forward end of the tail piece is considerablywider than the other parts and is outwardly curved, or arched, as I have illustrated in the drawings.

The mute 20, which'I have illustrated in the drawings as a typical mute, has a body part 21 and has jaws 22 adapted to extend on either side of the bridge 11 to grip it. The jaws 22 are provided with notches 23 which practically divide them into a plurality of prongs and which allow the mute to be arranged on the bridge without inter fering with the strings 16.

The attachment 30, provided by the present invention, comprises a body part 31 and a flange 32. The inner edge portion of the body part 31 extends under the forward end of the tail piece 13 and is secured to the tail piece as, for instance, by suitable screws 33. The outer edge portion of the body 31 projects from the forward end of the tail-piece 13 and is formed with a plurality of openings 34. The openings 34 are located in the body so that they come between the strings 16 as clearly illustrated in the drawings. Further, the openings 34: are shaped and proportioned so that they more or less accurately receive several prong parts of the mute 20.

The flange 32 extends downwardly from the outer edge of the body 31 so that it is between the jaw of the mute when the mute is being carried by the bracket, as shown in Fig 3. The flange 32 serves to hold the mute upright in the bracket and to hold it against excessive loose movement. In accordance with the. preferred form of the invention the attachment 30 is formed of sheet-metal and is permanently mounted on the forward end of the tail-piece 13. I prefer to finish the attachment so that it harmonizes with the other parts of the instrument and to glue, or otherwise suitably s'e cure it, to the tail-piece as well as secure it by the screws 33 so that it cannot possibly vibrate relative to the tail-piece.

From the foregoing description and from inspection of the drawings it will be obvi ous how the attachment provided by the present invention serves to hold a mute on the instrument in a convenient and secure manner and in a position from which it can be readily and quickly removed to the bridge of the instrument. Further, from inspection of the drawings it will be seen that the attachment is extremely simple in construction, is neat, and is applied to a part of the instrument where it is inconspicuous and does not in any way interfere with the handling or manipulation of the instrument.

Having described only a typical preferred embodiment of my invention I do not wish to limit myself to the particular details hereinabove set forth but wish to reserve to myself any changes or variations that may appear to those skilled in the art or fall within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a stringed instrument having a tail piece, including a part attachable to the forward end of the tail piece, and a part extending from the first mentioned part outwardly from the end of the tail piece and then downwardly and having openings in the outwardly extending portion adapted to receive some of the prongs of a mute.

2. A holder for a mute of the type comprising a body provided with spaced jaws each divided into aplurality of prongs, the holder being adapted for attachment to a stringed instrument having a tail piece, including a body with an inner edge poition attachable to the under side of the forward end of the tail piece so that its outer edge portion projects from the forward end of the tail piece, and a flange extending downwardly from the outer edge of the outer portion, the outer portion having a plurality of openings in it adjacent its outer edge to receive some of the prongs of a mute so that the flange is between some of the prongs of the mute.

3. A mute holder for a stringed instrument having a tail piece including, a single piece of sheet metal having a portion attachable to the forward portion of the tail piece, a portion projecting from the forward end of the tail piece and having a plurality of openings adapted to receive some of the prongs of the mute, and a part extending downwardly from the outer end of the last mentioned part to brace the mute.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 3rd day of August, 1922.

ABRAHAM CHERNIAVSKY. 

